{"id":31334,"date":"2025-04-21T09:03:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T16:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/?p=31334"},"modified":"2025-04-23T11:00:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T18:00:45","slug":"silence-environmental-watchdogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.footprintnetwork.org\/2025\/04\/21\/silence-environmental-watchdogs\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Can\u2019t Afford to Silence Its Environmental Watchdogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sandrine Dixson-Decl\u00e8ve<\/a> and Mathis Wackernagel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rumors swirl<\/a> that the U.S. administration plans to symbolically undermine environmental NGOs and philanthropic organizations, mirroring its recent heavy-handed threats against Colombia and Harvard University and continuing its onslaught on environmental stewardship and defiance of rule of law. This isn\u2019t serving the common good; it\u2019s just another attempt at government sanctioned censorship. Since day one of this new administration, we have seen it time and time again – the harassment of advocates working on civil rights, gender and social justice, the suppression of \u201cinconvenient truths,\u201d and the gutting of crucial government agencies.<\/p>\n

Such tactics are straight from the authoritarian playbook. What\u2019s shocking is their emergence in a nation, which has always claimed to stand for upholding democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law with robust checks and balances. It is even more surprising in a situation where the ruling party holds only a slim majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate and yet reacts with deafening silence.<\/p>\n

Few among the majority party dare to call out this cruel, self-defeating absurdity, though history will remember their complicity in harassing and gutting academic and governmental \u00a0institutions, as well as philanthropic and non-governmental organizations, that provide vital intelligence, analysis, policy options and capital to enable knowledge-based decision making and solutions for the poly crisis and 21st<\/sup> century challenges – the very tools a nation needs to survive let alone thrive.<\/p>\n

Banning words, stifling debate, and crippling public-good organizations doesn\u2019t strengthen governance; it blinds it. Imagine painting over your windshield when you go down the highway at 60 mph. Or withholding bank statements from account holders. Or hiding pre-diabetes risks to avoid “upsetting” patients. Why would a government actively sabotage its ability to prepare for the inevitable? Which senator or representative truly believes they\u2019ll escape accountability for misleading constituents\u2014or that their legacy will survive such willful negligence?<\/p>\n

We do not have unlimited time to respond to the well-documented challenges we face. Delaying action\u2014and even worse, undermining our ability to act\u2014is economically disastrous and reinforcing are greatest existential risks.<\/p>\n

U.S. government agencies, many of which are themselves under threat, have reported that atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations \u2013 driven up by fossil fuel use \u2013 now exceed the limit compatible with a 2\u00b0C global warming threshold by about 26 years of global emissions. The scientific as well as the international community recognize this threshold as the line between manageable change and dangerously unstable environmental conditions.<\/p>\n

These resource dynamics are becoming a massive risk, not just for the world, but also for the United States. Both remain more dependent on fossil fuels than ever. In fact, half of all fossil fuels ever consumed have been burned since the year 2000. Hence, we are facing a stark dilemma:<\/p>\n